Chapter 2-The Man with the scar
328 Words
Nina skipped her first lecture. Her legs moved on instinct, weaving through the side streets of Yaba, barely registering the stares of okada riders and roadside traders shouting over each other.
The voice message looped in her head: Find the man with the scar on his wrist.
She didn’t even know where to begin — until she remembered.
The campus bookstore. A man she’d seen there almost weekly. Tall, caramel-skinned, always in a faded brown leather jacket, always flipping through old poetry volumes. She had noticed the scar before, jagged and ugly, running like a bolt of lightning across his left wrist.
She never spoke to him. But now, she had to.
Nina entered the dim, narrow bookstore. The familiar smell of dust and ink hit her like déjà vu.
He was there — at the back, crouched, reading Soyinka.
She took a shaky step forward. “Excuse me.”
He looked up. Deep-set eyes. Sharp jawline. His gaze lingered like he was trying to remember something.
“Yes?”
“You… um… do you know me?” she asked.
He tilted his head. “Should I?”
She swallowed. “I got a message. It said to find the man with a scar on his wrist. Said… you left her in the fire.”
His expression changed instantly — from curiosity to horror. He dropped the book. “Where did you hear that?”
“From me,” Nina whispered. “But not me. Another me. She’s in danger. And she said the timeline is collapsing.”
The man backed away slightly. “You weren’t supposed to know yet. They’re accelerating the breach.”
“Who are you?” she asked.
He looked at her like someone who had just seen a ghost.
“My name is Efe. And I think… I think you just triggered something we can't stop.”
Behind them, the bookstore lights flickered.
Outside, the sky turned a deeper, unnatural shade of gray
- Writer
